Story:Star Trek: Conflict/Resistance
Attempting to gain allies in their struggle, Edward Shield suggests aiding the Bajoran Resistance in their conflicts with the Cardassian Union. Summary Chapter One Lianna Young asks Shield how's it feels to be alive. He tells her that its much better than being dead. However, he is not pleased that so much time was lost trying to save him. He tells her that the Brotherhood may have taken full control of the Federation by now and declared war on every non-Human in the Quadrant. He tells her that they should have taken some kind of action in his absence, rather than waste time rescuing him. When she appears spurned, he apologizes, stating that his agitation is partly because of the fact that he came very close to death and yet never was able to end the corruption. Young suggests making allies with some peaceful non-Federation race. Shield concurs. Later, both captains call a meeting of the entire crew of both ships and make a declaration: they are going to the last place anyone would ever think in looking for help. Cardassia. Chapter Two Despite warnings from Wess, Nox and Loghri, who fear the Cardassian Union might be worse than the Federation, Shield is determined to give them a chance. After the end of the meeting, both ships make their heading for Cardassia. Upon entering the system, a Galor-class battleship warns them to leave or be destroyed. Shield says that he comes in peace and offers to come aboard the Cardassian ship to propose an alliance. The Cardassian commander tells them to come by shuttle, rather than transporter, saying that it will give them time to prepare. Shield acquiesces, and then he and Nox take a shuttle to meet with the Cardassians. But just as the shuttle leaves the safety of the ''Admonitor'' s shields, it is fired upon by the Cardassian ship. It crashes to the planet below (NOT Cardassia, but a nearby M-class moon), and the Cardassians send a battalion of soldiers down to kill off any survivors. The ship then turns its attention to the ''Enterprise''-C, which has now open-fired on the Cardassian ship. Back on the Enterprise bridge, Dr. Boreas has taken control, and was the one who ordered the attack on the Cardassians. He fires two photon torpedoes at the Cardassian vessel, which damage its warp and impulse engines, trapping it in orbit. Boreas then contacts the Cardassian ship, telling the commander that if they try to contact anyone, they will be destroyed along with their battalion. Chapter Three Meanwhile, on the planet, Shield and Nox rise from the rubble of their shuttle to find exactly where they've landed: a desert world laced with mining camps. Unfortunately, from what they can see and the temperature of the area, this is definitely held by the Cardassians. They try to communicate with the ships above, but no answer comes through. Suddenly, they are attacked by several figures in bedouin-like robes with heavily covered faces. The two of them are no match for the large group of raiders, so they surrender. However, they are not killed, despite one of the raiders making as much plain in his own language. One of the warriors approaches Shield and removes the scarf around its face, revealing a woman of humanoid origins. Shield is ecstatic, telling Nox that he's now seen what he thought were mere legend. Bajorans. The female Bajoran introduces herself as Alaxim Zanda, who asks them if the Federation or the Romulan Star Empire have come to their aid. Shield admits that the Federation knows nothing about them, but Zanda says that the Federation has known about the plight of the Bajorans since they fell under Cardassian rule. She then tells them that, fourteen years ago, the Cardassians conquered Bajor and enslaved its people. Some were exiled from their native homeland to be worked to death by their Cardassian slave-masters, but those who remained on their native world were forced to deface it via strip-mining for the Union. Those who refused to become slaves, she finished, either died trying or have joined a resistance so that their deaths might make some kind of difference. Having finished, she asks them if they would care to assist them. Shield considers helping them, but is reminded of the Prime Directive: but this brings into consideration the fact that, because he is an outlaw of the Federation, the Prime Directive has little weight with him. He decides to help. But just then, they are attacked by an outnumbering battalion of Cardassians. Chapter Four Above the planet's surface, Boreas listens as Lianna Young goes off on his for his sudden attack on the Cardassians, saying that they may have condemned Shield to death because of it. He says that a noble death in battle is better than enslavement to the Cardassians. He warns her that, if she stands in his way, she'll be removed. Getting his subtle hint, she warns him what happened to other men who dared challenge her authority in the past. Just as they are about to come to blows, Rookwood reports of some kind of transmission scrambler located on the planet, therefore stating that the captain and Nox might have survived. Boreas ignores this, and asks Loghri to open a channel to the Cardassian ship, giving them the ultimatum of either surrendering or facing destruction. Behind his back, Young tells Rookwood to fire a photon barrage at the scrambler in order to establish contact with the Captain. On the planet, things are getting terrible. The Cardassian battalion is much larger than the small group of resistance fighters, and their weapons are top-of-the-line, whereas the Resistance have outdated phasers. Nox uses his shot-gun as best he can, with covering fire from Shield's phaser, but the battalion seems to number in the thousands. When his phaser malfunctions, Shield, seeing no possible escape, takes one of the dead Cardassian's phase-rifles and goes melee on them. Nox follows suit and while the battalion is distracted with them, the Resistance fighters engage them from behind, routing the enemy. Chapter Five Above, the Cardassians have noticed the route of their battalion, and the last of them beam down to the planet, leaving their ship to explode. Boreas thinks they have gained the victory, but Lianna Young refuses to leave the system. A fight ensues when, fed up with Young's interference, Boreas takes a swing at her. They break the fight only when, in the nick of time, Rookwood establishes a link to the captain. They - Shield, Nox and the Resistance fighters - are beamed into the Admonitor s transporter room just in time. Nox says that they could not have survived the reinforcements that were coming. When Boreas sees Zanda, they are extremely pleased to see each other. Later, when Shield asks her the reason, she relates to him a little of the first time they had met, and told both him and Lianna Young about what happened to his wife. They realize that this might have been the reason for his sudden, unexplained violent behavior. Category:Star Trek: Conflict Episodes